Rule Ten: The biggest unknown for the individual in a knowledge-based economy is how to have a career in a system where there are no careers.
Building Wealth: The new rules for individuals, companies, and nations in a knowledge-based economy, Lester Thurow, HarperCollins Publishers, 1999
One of the best things about MIT Sloan is the teaching faculty. Among the many outstanding courses that I took this semester, #15.967 "Issues in Economic Policy", taught by Professor Lester Thurow clearly stood out. I had read his book, Building Wealth in 2001 and it had made a deep impact on me. The Rules in the book had prompted me to consider doing a full-time MBA, as I grappled with the notion of how to build a successful career in the midst of a dot-com meltdown and an economic recession.
Prof Thurow has been teaching management and economics at MIT for more than 30 years. He was the dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1987 until 1993. A prolific writer, Prof Thurow is the author of several books. Three of them were Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America, The Future of Capitalism — and Building Wealth. They all became New York Times best sellers. I wasn't even aware that he was still teaching until I looked at the list of Spring courses back in December. In hindsight, perhaps the course should have been packaged with a label: "WARNING: Not for the faint of heart".
There were no pre-requisites for the course and readings were an eclectic collection of articles from Harvard Business School cases, Economist and the New York Times. In the first class, Prof Thurow talked about the stroke he had suffered a few years ago and apologized in advance for his weak health. However, his energy and drive in the half-semester course was undeniable. Whether it was global climate change or economic growth in China and India, Prof Thurow tackled each issue with hard facts and precise analytical thinking. Every once in a while, there would be an uproar in the class, as a group of students would vehemently disagree with his hypothesis, but at the end of ninety minutes, many had been swayed by the strength of his argument and intellectual ferocity.
After the course ended, I and Mykola Lysetskiy (MBA '09) took Prof Thurow out for lunch at his favorite restaurant, Legal Seafoods at Kendall Square. We chatted about every topic under the sun, ranging from the present federal trade deficit to how to properly bring up kids. Given that one of Prof Thurow's sons graduated from Harvard Business School and the other graduated from MIT Sloan, I figured it would be a good idea to get his input on the latter topic. I also told him about my two job offers and took his opinion on which one I should accept.
Lunch with Prof Thurow
The other half-semester Economics course that I took was #15.012 "Applied Macro and International Economics", which was taught jointly by Professor(s) Rigobon and Suri. It was an excellent course as well, which has led me to believe that the Department of Economics at MIT must have the best teachers among the top business schools. The passion, energy and drive of each professor is incredible. I would highly recommend both of these courses to incoming Sloanies from the class of 2010. Unfortunately, Prof Thurow will not teach after Spring 2009, since he will be moving to Hong Kong for a few years to join a economic think-tank.
These courses and others will come in very handy during my summer internship. I have accepted an offer from Fidelity Investments to work as an associate in their private equity division in Boston. Given the global credit crunch at the moment, I am happy to get this amazing offer and I am looking forward to getting some great hands-on operating experience with Fidelity's portfolio companies. By identifying "large disequilibriums", I hope to add value to one of the largest financial services company in the world.
Rule One: No one has ever become very rich by saving their money. The rich see opportunities to work and invest in situations where large disequilibriums exist. Carefully saving one's money and investing in normal equilibrium situations can make one comfortable in one's old age but never really wealthy.
Building Wealth: The new rules for individuals, companies, and nations in a knowledge-based economy, Lester Thurow, HarperCollins Publishers, 1999
Comments